I was born in Ohio and moved to Oregon in 1961. I lived on the Southern Oregon coast through high school, and later earned an associate degree in physical science from Southwestern Oregon Community College. I married my high school sweetheart, and we moved to Eugene in 1976. We have a son that graduated from the University of Oregon and Oregon Health Sciences University and is now a dentist in Eugene. We also have a daughter that graduated from the U of O with a bachelor’s degree in Japanese and a business minor. She is now living and working in Redondo Beach, California. I’m still married to my high school sweetheart after 32 years, and she works for the Lane County Sheriff’s Department.

I worked at Sheppard Motors as a line tech for just over 30 years. I specialized in Volvo, and held a master technician rating for over 20 years through 2008. Volvo Master Technicians are required to maintain an A.S.E. master technician rating also, which I currently have.

My main hobby now is my motorcycle, but I love to fish and hunt, and also to travel. I spent a week motorcycling around Oregon with my son last year and shared his first visit to Crater Lake on our first day of the trip. Neither he, his mom, or I could fathom it taking 28 years after he was born in Eugene for us to get to Crater Lake, but it still really touches me to have been there with him. We rode over to Joseph, Oregon, and Hells Canyon, and many other interesting places.

My wife and I have been as far as Sweden where we took delivery of a Volvo and toured the factory. We spent about ten days touring Sweden, staying at several castles and manor houses. We also traveled to Japan when our daughter was there for a Rotary exchange for a fifth year of high school. We traveled on Japan’s high-speed trains which we both really envy. We in the U.S. are way off track with our train system! In Tokyo, we were treated to a dinner cruise on Tokyo Bay. Kana, a Japanese girl that we had hosted for nearly a year here in Eugene, joined us. She went to Sheldon High School and was a second daughter to us. My wife and I both hope to have another exchange student and recommend the life-long experience to others.

Just under a year ago I moved a couple of blocks from my old job to join Swedish Engineering. I am really enjoying the change and working in a different environment. I have known Ed Meza for around 12 years and our wives have become friends also. We have to watch it or we are together seven days a week! We care about our customers, and we both share the same ideals in that our relationships with our customers go beyond the monetary exchange for services rendered.